The Scent of Death

Andrew Taylor

Oct 2014 · Sold by Harper Collins

About this ebook

*WINNER of the Ellis Peters Historical Dagger Award 2013*
‘Andrew Taylor wrote superb historical fiction long before Hilary Mantel was popular’ Daily Telegraph
From the No.1 bestselling author of THE AMERICAN BOY comes a new historical thriller set during the American War of Independence.

‘This is the story of a woman and a city. I saw the city first, shimmering from afar like the new Jerusalem in the setting sun. It was Sunday, 2nd August 1778.’

Edward Savill, a London clerk from the American Department, is assigned to New York to investigate the claims of dispossessed loyalists caught on the wrong side of the American War of Independence.

Surrounded by its enemies, British Manhattan is a melting pot of soldiers, profiteers, double agents and a swelling tide of refugees seeking justice from the Crown.

Savill lodges with the respected Wintour family: the old Judge, his ailing wife and their enigmatic daughter-in-law Arabella. The family lives in limbo, praying for the safe return of Jack Wintour, Arabella's husband, who is missing behind rebel lines.

The discovery of a body in the notorious slums of Canvas Town thrusts Savill into a murder inquiry. But in the escalating violence of a desperate city, why does one death matter? Because the secret this killing hides could be the key to power for whoever uncovers it...

Ratings and reviews

When London clerk Edward Savill sails into New York harbor on August 2, 1778, heh is not impressed. “I confess I expected a finer prospect,” he comments to a sailor keeping him company, “Something more like a city.” The British are occupying the city and like his cabin mate, Mr. Noak—an American who has been working in London for years—Savill is traveling on business. England and the United States may be at war, but war is good for business and opportunities for getting rich are everywhere. And in this atmosphere, everything is for sale, as Noak notes cynically. “For some people, sir, loyalty is a commodity, and like any other may be bought and sold.” And soon enough, Savill finds out that other commodities can be bought and sold in New York as well—like the purchase of a murder, for example. Andrew Taylor throws his readers right into the thick of things as Savill disembarks and is met by Townley, who fills him in on the gossip about the Loyalist judge who’ll be housing Savill—he has a very comely daughter-in-law, Townley confides—and then treats him to a “tolerable” dinner. But that dinner is interrupted by news of a murder, and soon enough our narrator and Townley are studying the corpse of a man who may or may not have had something to do with the devastating fire that was set not long before. And there’s just one clue—a single die that Savill finds. Who the man is, how he ended up dead and what (if anything) it has to do with the war is the main thread of the story but the real pleasure is just in how beautifully the writer has rendered his 18th century world. There is intrigue—political, national, business, sexual, racial, and social. Taylor whips all this together with period language that feels contemporary and wonderful characters. The author has won many awards for his historical mysteries and this book is such a well-crafted story that any reader would have voted him those awards themselves. (There’s an author’s afterward that is a nifty explanation of the whole “Loyalist” dilemma and it’s worth reading all by itself.) This was my introduction to Taylor’s work. I can’t wait to read his other books.

Great book. Characters were interesting and complex. Story kept you interested throughout.

About the author

Andrew Taylor is the author of a number of novels, including the Dougal and Lydmouth crime series, the psychological thrillers Bleeding Heart Square and The Anatomy of Ghosts, the ground-breaking Roth Trilogy, which was adapted into the acclaimed drama Fallen Angel, and The American Boy, his No. 1 bestselling historical novel which was a 2005 Richard & Judy Book Club choice.

He has won many awards, including the CWA John Creasey New Blood Dagger, an Edgar Scroll from the Mystery Writers of America, the CWA Ellis Peters Historical Award (the only author to win it twice) and the CWA’s prestigious Diamond Dagger, awarded for sustained excellence in crime writing. He also writes for the Spectator.